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Census/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim & Moby A boy, Tim, and his robot friend, Moby, are walking along a sidewalk. They reach a house at the end of the street. Suddenly the sun disappears, scary music plays, and lightning flashes. Tim gulps and knocks on the door. A man answers. '' '''TIM:' Hello, sir. Do you have any robots living here? Tim is holding a clipboard with a census form on it. The man says nothing. '' '''TIM:' Um. Any automatons, androids, or cyborgs? Inhabiting the domicile? The man slams the door in their faces. '' '''TIM:' Ugh. As Tim and Moby walk back to the sidewalk, a crow caws and drops a letter from its talons. Tim reads from the typed letter. '' '''TIM:' Dear Tim and Moby, Counting people for the census seems like a lot of work. Why does the government bother? From, Diego. TIM: You’re right, Diego. A census, or population count, always takes a ton of work. Every 10 years, the U.S. census sets out to count every single person living here. An animation shows a long line of people of all different ages, occupations, and backgrounds. '' '''TIM:' All 300-something million of us! It’s our country’s biggest civic action—a way we participate in government. An animation shows a turnstile in front of the line of people. A man dressed as Uncle Sam stands by the turnstile, holding a clipboard and pencil. A digital counter shows the count in progress and reads: 221,671,452. '' '''TIM:' Not everyone can vote, run for office, or speak at city council. But we all get counted in the census. MOBY: Beep? TIM: First, a census form arrives in the mail. It asks stuff like the names, ages, and relationships of people in a household. An animation shows a mailbox in front of a house with a letter inside. The letter opens up; it's a form labeled: United States Census 2020. '' '''TIM:' If you don’t send it back, a census worker will follow up in person. And they mean business—they’ll visit up to six times trying to get answers! An animation shows a census worker approach the house three times. On the third time, Moby answers the door. He has curlers in his hair and a green spa mask on his face. The census worker screams and runs away. '' '''TIM:' That’s because a lot of our government’s work relies on census numbers. It was planned that way by the guys who wrote the Constitution. MOBY: Beep!? TIM: In 1787, representatives from the 13 states gathered to hash out how they’d share a national government. An animation shows the Constitutional Convention. A big banner reads: Pennsylvania Convention. George Washington sits at a table on a raised platform. Other delegates are conversing, writing, and presenting ideas. '' '''TIM:' They allotted two senators to each state, big or small. But since that kinda short-changed bigger states, they also introduced proportional representation. That meant a state’s share of congressmen would be based on its population. Ditto Electoral College votes, which are how we elect the President. An image shows three bar graphs indicating the amount of representation different states have in Senators, Congressmen, and number of votes in Electoral College. '' '''TIM:' And since the population was constantly growing and moving around, we'd need regular counts to keep everything fair! So, rules for how the census would be run were added to the Constitution. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Nah, America didn’t invent the census. The Egyptians, the Romans, the Inca, and other civilizations all counted their people, too. But for them, it was so the ruler could collect taxes or count his army. The point was to make sure the people in power held on to their power. An animation shows a line of Romans. They each drop a handful of gold coins into a large pot in front of Julius Caesar, who sits on a throne. '' '''TIM:' This American census has the opposite purpose: to hand out political power, through representation in government. An animation shows Uncle Sam at the turnstile. He hands a lightning bolt to the next person in line, who becomes charged up with power. '' '''TIM:' Our Constitution says "We the people" grant the government its power. Determining exactly who, how many, and where "We the people" are is the job of the census. MOBY: Beep? TIM: The first census, in 1790, had only six questions. Things like age, gender, and whether the person was free or enslaved. An animation shows an 18th century census-taker asking a young man questions. He is recording notes on a scroll with a quill. '' '''TIM:' Census writers feared that if they were too nosy, people wouldn’t participate. An animation shows the young man raise an eyebrow and cross his arms. '' '''TIM:' President George Washington himself added up the final numbers. He thought the population count seemed too low. But he figured everyone was being under-counted about equally, so the percentages were still valid. An animation shows George Washington at a desk. He is writing with a quill and is surrounded by stacks of paper. '' '''TIM:' The first census offered an exciting snapshot of a country that was growing fast. Most of the original 13 states gained at least one seat in Congress. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Congress became thirsty for more information, and started adding questions. To guide the economy, they asked about people’s jobs. To offer aid, they asked if anyone in the household was blind or deaf. An animation shows a 19th century census-taker in a city. He is asking another man questions with a clipboard and pen in hand. '' '''TIM:' Census results became some of the most in-depth planning data available. The need to organize that information even led to new technologies. One of the early steps to the first computer was invented by an impatient census worker. An animation shows several tall stacks of paper. A man stands in front of them, scratching his head. Suddenly, he gets an idea and the paper turns into a punch card. '' '''TIM:' And statistics, the science of studying huge sets of data, really took off. An animation zooms in on a tabulating machine. A pie chart appears in front of it with the text: Federal Spending. '' '''TIM:' Today, billions of government dollars are doled out based on census numbers. Like, the federal program to provide school lunches for kids living in poverty. An animation shows part of the pie chart labeled "School Lunches." '' '''TIM:' Data from the last census guides how much each state gets for the program. Stuff like that is why it's important to count even the youngest kids. MOBY: Beep? TIM: As thorough as census workers try to be, they can’t find everybody. People in isolated places, or who move a lot, can be hard to track down. An image shows a map of houses on a few blocks of a neighborhood. A few of the houses have question marks over them. '' '''TIM:' So the census started extrapolating: inferring info they don’t know from info they do. One might extrapolate how many people live in a house by looking at similar ones close by. An image shows 4 icons of houses. Three of the houses are populated with family members, while one contains only a question mark. '' '''TIM:' Or count a small area and use that sample to calculate people in a larger one. An animation of the neighborhood map zooms out into a broader, color-coded map. '' '''TIM:' Census scientists are constantly researching which methods work best. Usually to make up for the fact that certain groups are more likely to go missing. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, some people are suspicious of giving personal details to the government. An animation shows the man from earlier, who wouldn't answer any of Tim's census questions. '' '''TIM:' Even though there are all kinds of protections against misusing your data. Your name and identity are kept strictly confidential. An animation shows the man's face become pixelated. '' '''TIM:' And it's illegal to release that stuff to the public or even other government agencies. Unfortunately, that promise has been broken before. During WWII, census data was used to locate Japanese Americans. An image shows the 1940 census form. In one box, "Japanese" is written in. Another box labeled "address" is filled in with "San Francisco." '' '''TIM:' They were rounded up and put into prison camps until the end of the war. Fear of another episode like that keeps some people from participating. An animation shows a Japanese American couple behind a fence, holding a child. An armed guard walks along the outside of the fence with a large dog. '' '''TIM:' On the flip side, critics sometimes charge the census with undercounting certain groups: Minorities, young men, city dwellers, the poor—even Mormon missionaries. It's a hot-button issue, since a drop in population can mean losing a seat in Congress. Whenever that's happened, the state questions the count—or sues. Some of these cases go all the way to the Supreme Court. An animation shows New York state with an angry face on it, shaking its fists at the Supreme Court building. '' '''TIM:' It usually decides that the Census Bureau knows best. Funny, no one ever complains when they gain a seat in Congress. An animation shows a thumbs down coming from the Supreme Court. The New York state figure slumps down and walks away. '' '''TIM:' The 2020 census has all the drama of decades past. It's the first census that can be answered online. An animation shows a woman at her laptop, on a webpage with the headline: Census. '' '''TIM:' And there's an old question about citizenship that’s been added back in. That could scare off non-citizens and their relatives from participating. An animation shows the woman looking at a census question that reads: Is Person 1 a U.S. Citizen? She moves the cursor toward "no." Instead of checking the box, she closes the laptop and walks away. '' '''TIM:' If enough of them don't respond, it could do real damage to those communities. Just like voting, the more people who participate in the census, the better. It's a chance for everyone, even kids, to take part in a nationwide civic action! An animation shows icons of people populating a map of the United States. '' '''TIM:' Even though kids can't fill out the form, we do get counted. When I see that envelope in the mail, I'm gonna make sure I'm there when my parents fill in my section! MOBY: Beep? TIM: My social life is… fine, thank you very much. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts